Water and fuel tankers are among vehicles to be produced by Navistar Defense for Afghanistan. Photo courtesy Navistar Defense

LISLE, Ill., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- More than 2,200 medium tactical vehicles are to be produced for the Afghanistan National Security Force by Navistar Defense.

The 2,293 MTVs ordered by the U.S Army Contracting Command will include general troop transports, water and fuel tankers, ammunition trucks, and wreckers.

The trucks will be based on the International WorkStar/7000-MV severe service vocational truck platform.

"We are honored to continue supporting the efforts of the Afghanistan National Security Force's missions to provide security and rebuilding in their country," said Kevin Thomas, president, Navistar Defense. "We have been supporting ANSF since 2005 and have provided more than 9,000 medium-duty vehicles to the Afghan forces during that time."

Navistar said the contract for the vehicles is worth $369 million. Production is to begin immediately, with deliveries to begin next year and continue to 2019.

Navistar Defense's facilities in Springfield, Ohio, and West Point, Miss., will manufacture the vehicles.

Remember i told you something like this several months agothat i have been the Team leader on Conflict resolution here

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish fighter jets have carried out their first airstrikes as part of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Syria, Turkey announced on Saturday.

A Foreign Ministry statement said the jets began attacking IS targets late Friday across the border in Syria that were deemed to be threats to Turkey.

After months of hesitance, Turkey agreed last month to take on a more active role in the fight against IS. Turkish jets used smart bombs to attack IS positions in Syria, without crossing into Syrian airspace and later Turkey granted U.S jets access to a key air base close to the Syrian border.

The Turkish attacks that began Friday were the first launched as part of the U.S.-led campaign and came after Turkish and U.S officials announced they had reached agreement "on the procedures and technical details" of their cooperation, which calls for Turkey to be fully integrated into the coalition air campaign.

"Our fighter aircraft together with warplanes belonging to the coalition began as of yesterday evening to jointly carry out air operations against Daesh targets that also constitute a threat against the security of our country," the Foreign Ministry said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. "The fight against the terrorist organization is a priority for Turkey."

The statement did not provide further detail on the targets or say how many jets were involved.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, reporting from Aleppo and citing unnamed local sources, said the coalition forces have raided IS targets in the IS-held town of Manbij in Aleppo province. It said the raids destroyed IS positions but said there was no information on any casualties.

The private Dogan news agency meanwhile, said two Turkish warplanes hit four IS targets north of Aleppo. It did not cite a source for the report or provide any more information.

On Thursday, IS militants seized five villages from rebel groups in northern Syria as they advanced toward the strategic town of Marea near the Turkish border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other groups said IS carried out a suicide bombing on the outskirts of Marea amid fierce fighting in the area.

The IS advance was in the northern Aleppo province near where Turkey and the United States have been discussing establishing an IS-free safe zone.

In Washington, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said the Turkish airstrikes were "fully integrated" in the coalition campaign.

"We commend Turkey for its participation in counter-ISIL air operations alongside other coalition nations in the international campaign to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL," Cook said, using an alternative acronym for IS.

A statement from the U.S Embassy said: "Turkish participation in coalition airstrikes strengthens our capacity to degrade and defeat our common enemy."

Turkey's deeper involvement in the coalition came after a suicide bombing in July, blamed on IS, killed 33 people in the Turkish border city of Suruc near Syria, and an attack on Turkish troops guarding the border, which killed one soldier.

Earlier this month, the U.S F-16 jets launched their first airstrikes from the Turkish air base of Incirlik — just a short distance from targets in northern Syria. Earlier, the U.S also began flying armed drones from Incirlik, which is just a short distance from targets in northern Syria.

Baghdad (AFP) - A suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group killed two Iraqi generals on Thursday in the key battleground province of Anbar, as the jihadists made gains in neighbouring Syria.

IS overran large areas of Iraq in 2014 and seized Anbar capital Ramadi earlier this year. It also controls major territory in Syria, where it has thrived amid a bloody civil war.

Military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said a suicide bomber in an explosives-rigged vehicle struck the Al-Jaraishi area north of Ramadi as Iraqi forces advanced.

The attack killed the deputy head of the Anbar Operations Command, Abdulrahman Abu Raghif, and 10th Division commander Safin Abdulmajid, said Rasool.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement online, but gave a different account of how it unfolded, saying it was carried out by four suicide bombers and two supporting gunmen who targeted the main command headquarters north of Ramadi.

It said all six of the jihadists were killed.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command confirmed the deaths of the two officers along with an unspecified number of other "heroic martyrs".

The death or injury of senior officers during battles against IS is a persistent problem for Iraq.

Two heads of the Anbar Operations Command have been wounded this year, while the commanders of a division and a brigade were killed in Anbar in April. The province's governor was wounded in 2014.

Senior army and police commanders have also been killed in other provinces since IS launched its devastating offensive in June 2014, sweeping security forces aside.

Baghdad's forces have managed to regain significant territory in two provinces north of the capital, but much of western Iraq, including Anbar, remains outside government control.

In Syria, IS seized five villages from rebel forces overnight in the northern province of Aleppo and deployed on three sides of a key opposition bastion there, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The jihadist group overran three villages near the town of Marea, cut the rebel bastion off from the north, east and south, and took two more villages further north in Aleppo province, it said.

Those two villages were previously controlled by Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, which withdrew from them after Turkey and the United States announced plans to cooperate on an IS-free zone in the area.

Marea is one of the most significant rebel-held towns in northern Aleppo and lies on a key supply route running to the Turkish border.

IS has targeted it for months, seeking to expand westwards from territory it holds in Aleppo province.

The Observatory said there were reports of dozens of rebel casualties in the fighting, but it had no immediate toll, while at least 18 IS members were killed in the fighting for Marea and the five villages.

Mamoun al-Khatib, a journalist and activist from Marea, also said the town was cut off from three directions and said dozens of jihadists had been killed trying to storm it.

He said some 5,000 civilians were inside the town, which was under IS mortar fire on Thursday afternoon.